Meeting Rather Than Knowing: (Re)Claiming a Pedagogy of Encounter for Early Childhood Educators' Response-ability

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Twelve
  In Roundtable Session: Equity and Rights: Dispositions, Ethics, and Professional Responsibilities (Table 8)

Abstract

In this paper, I draw on political theorist Emily Beausoleil’s (2015) idea of “a dispositional ethics,” which I encountered when searching for my response-ability as an Asian American early childhood teacher educator amidst a spike in anti-Asian violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Juxtaposing Beausoleil’s arguments based on Emmanuel Levinas’ (1969) ethics of encounter with the works of other scholars who emphasized relational ethics and who were critical of Euro-Western reductionism and anthropocentrism, I argue for reimagining teaching and learning as meeting rather than knowing the other/difference. I also propose (re)claiming “a pedagogy of encounter,” a nomenclature used in religious education, for the ethical response-ability of early childhood educators working with diverse young children.

Author

• Kyung Hwa Lee, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author